More misery for sorry Crompton

The attractive vista of the hills which separate Greater Manchester from Saddleworth contrasted starkly with the cricket on display at Glebe Street on Saturday when Rochdale beat Crompton by seven wickets. The brisk north-westerly wind lent a feeling of March, rather than mid-June, to the afternoon and the recent wet weather ensured a wicket that was never going to spawn a run fest, so a competitive game was the best the few hardy spectators present could hope for.

The attractive vista of the hills which separate Greater Manchester from Saddleworth contrasted starkly with the cricket on display at Glebe Street on Saturday when Rochdale beat Crompton by seven wickets.

The brisk north-westerly wind lent a feeling of March, rather than mid-June, to the afternoon and the recent wet weather ensured a wicket that was never going to spawn a run fest, so a competitive game was the best the few hardy spectators present could hope for.

That was asking too much, though. It was going to require a major turn round in form, Rochdale having won their previous seven games, in all competitions, while Crompton have only one league victory to boast about.

And the league table rarely lies. When a team is struggling it needs to apply the basics – hard work and common sense, and even then it is not enough without a touch of luck. And Crompton were bereft of two of those constituents in this game.

Unfortunate to lose both the toss and Ste Wright, yorked by Harry Clough in the first over, Crompton were then victims of their own stupidity when professional Fida Hussain played one gently to Greg Butterworth at cover and called for a single. Although Butterworth’s underarm return was somewhat errant Lee Crabtree smartly gathered the ball and broke the wicket to leave a bemused Danny Taylor well short and Crompton were 10 for two.

Without further addition, bad luck returned when Hussain was bowled, via his bat handle, after he had shouldered arms to a Clough delivery that got big on him.

Now resilience was needed and Sammy Ullah and Aqib Zulfiqar threatened to provide it. Ullah revealed his potency by clubbing Clough over square leg and out of the ground, but then, like Taylor before him, he was a victim of his partner’s misjudgement. This time Crabtree was surplus to requirements as Derek Faulkner’s direct hit from extra cover defeated Ullah’s desperate dive after Zulfiqar’s optimistic call.

Crompton skipper Carl Taylor was then out first ball, trapped in front by Dieter Klein and at 20 for five Crompton were in a pickle.

Zulfiqar is a young player with an abundance of talent but his problem has been how to harness it.

But now, if Crompton were to avoid total embarrassment it was up to him and he began to play with increased maturity. One marvellous shot, a straight drive over the sight screen off Dieter Klein, was proof of his ability and with the assistance of Sean Rigby, Andy Kershaw and David Clegg he took the score to 71 before he was the eighth man out, when a combination of Faulkner and the unpredictable track caused him to sky one to mid-wicket.

Crompton offered no further defiance and the visitors were left a target of 76 for victory. By the time Adam Smith and Greg Dawson, pictured , had put on 37 steady runs for the first wicket, the win was almost assured.

Smith edged Carl Taylor, via the wicket keeper, to Zulfiqar at slip to brighten Crompton’s mood but Greg Butterworth, short of runs before this game, knuckled down and played like a number three to help Dawson take their team to the cusp of victory.

Dawson, surprisingly and no less disappointingly, failed to see it through though, and when he and his namesake Andrew both fell with eight needed it was left to Klein with two successive fours to put Crompton out of their misery.

So, another five points for Rochdale to consolidate their position in the top half of the table, but given that they are 18 points behind runaway leaders Norden, how they must be ruing their inconsistent start to the season.